Nifty ends at new closing high; ITC falls 2%, M&M gains 3%

11 November 2014

03:30 Market closingThe market has once again ended on a flat note. The Nifty ended at new closing high, at 8362.65, up 18.40 points. The Sensex is up 35.33 points at 27910.06. M&M was up 3 percent while Tata Steel, Axis Bank, GAIL and HDFC were other gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were BHEL, ITC, Bharti, Infosys and Sesa Sterlite.

02:50pm Bosch at record high post earningsBosch, a supplier of automotive components and technology to original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs), posted 30.78 percent rise year-on-year in net profit at Rs 306.36 crore for the quarter ended September.

The company follows January-December fiscal. Its net income also increased 19.03 percent to Rs 2,555.76 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 2,147.09 crore during the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

02:35pm Brent crude near $ 81/bblBrent crude oil futures fell by more than USD 1 today to a four-year low of USD 81.23, as a strong dollar and robust production from US shale oil fields weighed on prices.

The US dollar hit a 7-year high against the yen and was up 0.2 percent on the day against a basket of currencies.

Production from shale oil fields in the United States showed no signs of slowing despite falling prices, the Energy Information Administration said in a forecast on Monday.

US crude futures fell by 98 cents to an intraday low of USD 76.42, reports Reuters.

Global ICT solutions provider AGC Networks' net loss narrowed down to Rs 9.4 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2014, against that of Rs 42.1 crore in the same period last year. Revenues have grown 4.1 percent to Rs 222.3 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 213.5 crore in the July-September 2013 quarter, the Essar Enterprise company said in a statement.

03:30 Market closingThe market has once again ended on a flat note. The Nifty ended at new closing high, at 8362.65, up 18.40 points. The Sensex is up 35.33 points at 27910.06. M&M was up 3 percent while Tata Steel, Axis Bank, GAIL and HDFC were other gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers were BHEL, ITC, Bharti, Infosys and Sesa Sterlite.

02:50pm Bosch at record high post earningsBosch, a supplier of automotive components and technology to original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs), posted 30.78 percent rise year-on-year in net profit at Rs 306.36 crore for the quarter ended September.

The company follows January-December fiscal. Its net income also increased 19.03 percent to Rs 2,555.76 crore during the quarter under review as against Rs 2,147.09 crore during the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

02:35pm Brent crude near $ 81/bblBrent crude oil futures fell by more than USD 1 today to a four-year low of USD 81.23, as a strong dollar and robust production from US shale oil fields weighed on prices.

The US dollar hit a 7-year high against the yen and was up 0.2 percent on the day against a basket of currencies.

Production from shale oil fields in the United States showed no signs of slowing despite falling prices, the Energy Information Administration said in a forecast on Monday.

US crude futures fell by 98 cents to an intraday low of USD 76.42, reports Reuters.

Global ICT solutions provider AGC Networks' net loss narrowed down to Rs 9.4 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2014, against that of Rs 42.1 crore in the same period last year. Revenues have grown 4.1 percent to Rs 222.3 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 213.5 crore in the July-September 2013 quarter, the Essar Enterprise company said in a statement.

Amara Raja Batteries said the board of directors of the company has approved the setting up of a plant for manufacturing tabular batteries.

12:25pm Interest rate cut likely?Brokerage house Tata Capital Securities does not rule out an interest rate cut in current fiscal year. They are of the view that even with sluggish investment demand, lower interest rates can stimulate index for industrial production (IIP).

Although interest rate effect may be less than seasonal forces, Anand Shanbhag, Head of Research at Tata Capital Securities believes that inflation and industrial production may soon surprise the market at large.

If there is a stronger conviction of a rate cut, investors should add more exposure to capital goods stocks, he says adding that consumer durable space will benefit most from an interest rate cut. Staying with the large caps in coming months may be a safer strategy, he says in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

BHEL topped the selling list, down 3 percent followed by ITC, Infosys and Bharti Airtel with more than a percent loss. However, Mahindra & Mahindra and Gail India gained over 2 percent.

Non-banking financials stocks remained in focus after the RBI tightened the the bad loan norms. L&T Finance Holdings told CNBC-TV18 that the company does not see financials being impacted significantly but hopes these are not the final guidelines from RBI.

The Pune-based forging company beat street expectations with the second quarter net profit rising a whopping 80.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 174 crore led by strong sales and operational performance. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 96.4 crore.

Total income from operations grew by 34.7 percent to Rs 1,138 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 845.1 crore in same quarter last year, driven by robust export growth (in particular from North American industrial and commercial vehicle market).

The Nifty trades above the 8350 mark led by select financials & metal stocks. The 50-share index is up 13.75 points at 8358. The Sensex is up 44.73 points at 27919.46. About 1372 shares have advanced, 993 shares declined, and 94 shares are unchanged.

GAIL, M&M, Axis Bank, Tata Steel and L&T are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are BHEL, Bharti Airtel, Coal India, Infosys and ITC. Non-banking financials stocks are in focus after the RBI tightens the bad loan norms.

Asian markets touch fresh highs after a record closing from the US. The Nikkei gains more than 2 percent to touch a 7-year high, Shanghai too hits a 3-year high.

Brent crude traded around USD 82 a barrel, just above a four-year low hit last week, with a firm dollar and robust production from US shale oil fields offsetting a drop in output in Libya. The price has fallen nearly 30 percent since late June and all eyes are on OPEC for indications of whether the oil cartel will cut prices at a meeting on Nov. 27.

Brent fell for the seventh straight week last week, the longest losing streak since late 2002.

The drop in prices this year is due in part to rising production from non-OPEC countries, in particular the United States. Lower prices have had little impact on drilling there, with output from the country's fastest-growing and largest shale fields showing no sign of slowing down, the US Energy Information Administration said.

Expecting the current growth momentum to continue, supported by strong macro and earnings data, UBS Securities remains bullish on Indian equities for Year 2015. Moreover, based on its growth forecasts, it sees Nifty at 9,600 by 2015-end.

In its latest report, the brokerage said that the economic growth recovery underway will likely sustain current valuations, especially as it starts manifesting in both "macro and micro data points".

"Unlike the last three years, we expect consensus earnings growth estimates of 15 plus for FY16 and FY17 to be met, and ultimately, it is earnings momentum that drives markets," the report said.

The Pune-based forging company beat street expectations with the second quarter net profit rising a whopping 80.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 174 crore led by strong sales and operational performance. Profit in the year-ago period was Rs 96.4 crore.

Total income from operations grew by 34.7 percent to Rs 1,138 crore in the quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 845.1 crore in same quarter last year, driven by robust export growth (in particular from North American industrial and commercial vehicle market).

According to CMD Baba Kalyani, the strong performance and growth in the July-September quarter was mainly from export markets especially North America. He expects the company to reach full capacity by Q4FY15. The company also aims to double sales by 2018.

Chinese shares continued to outperform and were at three-year highs. They added 1.3 percent on top of the previous session's 2.5 percent surge after officials announced on Monday that a November 17 would mark the beginning of a tie-up that will allow global investors to buy Chinese stocks from Hong Kong.

Sentiment was also boosted by the Bank Of Japan's move on Monday to purchase 38 billion yen (USD 331.2 million) of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as part of its recently beefed-up economic stimulus campaign. The news was announced after markets closed on Monday, reports Reuters.

The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rising 0.66 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. Advancing shares outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of 1327 to 644 on the BSE.

9:50 am New norms for NBFC: The Reserve Bank of India announced a revised framework for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), raising the minimum net owned funds limit while capping deposit acceptance and aligning bad loan norms with banks. Among the important norms laid out in the framework: all NBFCs will have to take a certificate of registration for continuing business and they must have net-owned funds of at least Rs 1 crore by 2016 and Rs 2 crore by 2017.

Rules have also been changed for asset finance companies, who until now could easily take public deposits -- they now have to obtain an investment-grade rating from a rating agency but this rule too is applicable from March 2016. The most important ones, though, are the changes in the bad loan rules. As of now, NBFCs mark a loan as bad loan only if the interest is not paid for six months while for banks it is three months.

The company had filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in July this year for the proposed public offer.

Sebi issued its final observations on the draft offer documents on November 7. Sebi's observations are necessary for the companies to launch any public offer.

Prior to that, Sebi had sought clarification on two instances from Lavasa's lead manager, Axis Capital Ltd, regarding the company's proposed IPO.

The company, which is developing a large township (hill city) in 10,000 hectares in 'Lavasa' near Pune, is making a second attempt to raise money though IPO. This is the company's second effort to hit the capital market. In November 2010, Lavasa had got the Sebi clearance for an IPO to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore, but bad market conditions forced the company to scrap the plan.

The market has opened with marginal gains. The Sensex is up 36.52 points at 27911.25 and the Nifty is up 9.85 points at 8354.10. About 495 shares have advanced, 152 shares declined, and 31 shares are unchanged.

Bharti Airtel, ONGC, GAIL, NTPC and Wipro are top gainers while Sesa, Hindalco, BHEL, Maruti and Infosys are among the laggards.

The Indian rupee opened flat at 61.56 per dollar against previous day's closing value of 61.51 a dollar.The dollar gains reversing some of its post-payrolls losses as investors were quick to rebuild long positions amid an absence of major drivers.

Ashutosh Raina of HDFC Bank said, "US dollar recouped most of its US payroll losses with dollar index touching a high of 87.82. Investors and real money names continue to favour USD to other low yielding currencies. It is hard to see USD strength losing steam in the short-term. Expect rupee to continue to trade in a range of 61-62/dollar in the near-term."

US markets closed modestly higher but the S&P, Dow again rise to record closes amid earnings. Stocks closed modestly higher, with healthcare companies leading the charge that again lifted benchmarks to records, as investors tracked corporate results as the earnings season starts to wind down.

Asian markets are positive in morning trade. Nikkei rebounded from one-week lows after September's current account balance rose 61.9 percent from a year earlier, a third straight month of surplus. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.68 percent or 113.30 points at 16,893.83. South Korea's Seoul Composite was up 0.19 percent or 3.80 points at 1,962.03.China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.79 percent or 19.62 points at 2,493.29. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.50 percent or 119.84 points at 23,864.54. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted was flat at 9,042.24. Singapore's Straits Times was flat at 3,303.08.

In commodities, brent slumps to 81 dollars per barrell as US dollar strength outweighed worries about conflict in Libya and Ukraine.